Method and apparatus for the manufacture of card or pulp board.



PATENTED 11120.19, 1905.-

H. n. LORIIA. A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUI AcTL-RE or CARD 0R PULP BOARD.

LPPLIOATIh-I FILED IL'B. 20. 1905.

PAL

Ad 6 M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOVARD DIEIIDONNE LORIA, OF ORCHAMPS, FRANCE.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARD R PULP BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1905.

Application filed February 20,1905. Serial No. 246,628.

To all whom, iivrmy concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD DIEUDoNNr': LORIA, engineer, a citizen of France, residing at Orchamps, Jura, France, have invented a new and useful Method of and Apparatus for the Continuous Manufacture of Card or Pulp Board, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the manufacture of I pulp-boardthat is, of a paper product formed by the assemblage of two or more webs of pulp; and my invention consists in so modifying the processes heretofore used that the apparatus needed may be greatly simplified 5 and made to act continuously and to perform nearly all operations automatically, so as to require the lowest possible amount of attendance.

It has already been proposed to manufac- 26 ture cardboard or pulp-board by superposing sheets or webs of paper-pulp which bind themselves together when passed through the press; but in order that this spontaneous binding action shall take place it is necessary to employ 5 sheets only incompletely formed and extremely wet, containing about eighty-live per cent. of water. These sheets have almost no cohesive force, so that it is indispensable to superpose them immediately on their delivery 3 from the roller or flat-table machines by which they are produced. It is necessary then to have as many machines of this kind as there are of sheets or plies to be superposed, which reduces to very narrow limits the number of sheets which it is possible to superpose in practice. This number is equally limited by the fact that it is impossible to pass a suflicient number of sheets in suflicientlywet condition through the press without crushing 4. and destroying them. This process therefore is not well adapted for the manufacture of thick pulp-board. For thin pulp-board it is not economical, by reason of the multiplicity of machines necessary, and it does not give good results, for the sheets have so little strength that they frequently tear, although supported by felts. Moreover, the drying of such pulp-board is very costly by reason of the great quantity of water to be extracted.

5 For the same reason the pulp-board produced lacks in strength and compactness.

The method and machine forming the subject of this invention while avoiding the drawbacks above indicated render possible the continuous manufacture of cardboard or pulpboard of all thicknesses by the superposition of undried webs of pulp. Instead of employing, as has been done heretofore, webs of pulp incompletely formed containing about eighty-five per cent. of water I super-pose webs completely formed containing about thirty-five to fifty per cent. of water only. The said webs are not subjected to any preliminary drying operation. for it is easy to obtain them directly on fiat-table machines, for instance. Heretofore it has not occurred to anyone to adopt this method of producing cardboard, and that because webs in this condi'tion do not bind together on simply being passed through the press. I have, however, discovered, and this is a very important feature of my invention. that the binding eliect is easily produced at the time of passage through the press if the webs be powdered or sprinkled with a dry powder, such as flour or dry glue or paste in powder form. At the time of passage through the press the moisture in the pulp is absorbed by the paste and renders it adhesive, and so cements the webs together. This effect is then obtained without increasing the water content of the webs.

As there is only a small quantity of waterpresent, the drying is efl'ected easily and at small cost, and the final product is dense and strong.

\Yebs containing about forty or fifty per cent. of water may be easily rolled and kept in rolls and they may all be produced in a single machine to be employed later in the manufacture of pulp-board by the present process. Their cohesion is sufiicient to enable them to be unrolled and superposed automatically by simple drawing action. It is also possible by this method to make pulp-board of considerable thickness, for whatever may be the number of webs superposed they are quite able to sustain the action of the press without injury.

The nature of the product may be varied at will by changing the nature of the principal material of all or part of the webs. It is thus easy to armor or strengthen the cardboard by inter-posing webs of any suitable naturesuch as fabrics formed of vegetable, animal, or mineral fibers0r such webs may equally constitute one or both of the external faces of the pulp-board.

In loading pulp-board it has been customary to add the inert matter in the pulp, thus incorporating it in with the sheets themselves. This is evidently detrimental to strength. The new process while not excluding the above 1 of colloidal material. In the following descripoperation, if it be desired, permits of interposing the loading material between the webs by mixing the same, for instance, with the cementing agent.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the annexed drawings, Figure 1 of which is a side elevation, more or less diagrammatic, showing the improved machine for carrying out the described process. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are details hereinafter referred to.

In Fig. 1, a a (1 represent rolls of pulp. These rolls are formed on metallic tubes 1/2 Fig. 2, slipped over rods .s'. The rolls a are thus mounted transversely of the machine, so as to be able to turn on their axes to permit the webs to unroll under the action of a slight drawing effortexerted thereon. They may be hjected to braking action,so as to lay the webs V1.11 any desired degree of tension. The sheets unrolled from the rolls a are superposed, as shown, and are carried along by the endless moving belt 7). The heavy cylinders I press with all their weight on the webs, thus insuring the unrollmg of the latter and their being carried along by the belt 5. Between each two roll-supporting rods s is a distributor 0,

tion it may be presumed to be ordinaryfiour. These distributers serve to powder the suc cessive webs with flour before they are covered by the following webs; formed by the superposition of the webs, the number of which will correspond with the thickness of pulp -board to be obtained, is finally passed between the cylinders of a press d or through several presses (Z in succession, and then it is led to the drying-chamber. If the number of webs to be superposed is considerable, it may be desirable to arrange such presses d at intervals throughout the length of the machine, so as to secure the cementing together of a certain number of webs already superposed before adding new webs.

The distributers 0 may be constructed in any suitable manner. In the example shown, Fig. 2, they comprise a hoppena, containing flour, the bottom of which hopper is closed by a cylinder f, provided with circular or helicoidal grooves. \Vhen turned in the direction indicated by the arrow, this cylinder carries some flour in the grooves and the flour is detached and subdivided by the brush g, which rotates at a high speed. The flour falls on a reciprocating screen It, and the latter delivers it at a uniform rate in finely-divided state to form an even layer on the web moving beneat As stated above, loading material may be mixed with the cementing agent. This may readily be done by arranging alongside each other two distributers c 0 Fig. 1, one for the cementing agent and the other for the loading material. The pulverulent products supplied by these two distributers fall together on the mixing and dividing screen h, which effects The sheet sov the mixing thereof and also distributes them uniformly on the web passing beneath.

The cylinders of the presses (Z may, if desired, be coated with felt, or, if preferred, an endless felt, such as 1', may pass between one of the cylinders and the sheet being pressed.

To permit continuous operation of the machine, the supports for the pulp-rolls may be arranged and constructed as in Figs. 3 and 4 to receive several rolls of pulp which are employed in succession. The said supports may be recharged during operation. Figs. 3 and 4 show an arrangement for this purpose which will be understood without further explanation. Instead of being fixed in the rotating heads r, the roll supporting rods may be mounted so as to rotate therein on their own axes.

It is stated above that the process admits of simultaneously interposing one or several layers of fabric or other strengthening material between the layers of the pulp-board or else of covering the pulp-board with layers of v this kind during manufacture. Such means is shown in Fig. 1, where 0 is a bobbin from which the strengthening material is unrolled in the shape of sheets, ribbons, or parallel threads which are passed into and through the sizing-trough p, then between the washing-rollers q, and then laid on the first layers of pulp-roll carried by the belt b, to be subsequentlycovered by the last layers. The trough 1) may contain liquid paste or glue in hot or cold condition; but if there be a distributer c, of colloidal material, provided immediately in front of and immediately beyond this arrangement a tank filled with water is all that is necessary.

The machine above described, which is relativelyinexpensive as regards construction and maintenance, may be completed by the addition of calendering and glacing rolls cutting apparatus, and the like, thus constituting a machine adapted to perform continuously and automatically nearly all the operations required for the complete manufacture of card or pulp board, and thereby greatly reducing the manual labor heretofore required for producing pulp-board of any thickness.

l'Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an-apparatus for the manufacture of pulp-board in continuous sheets, the combination of an endless belt having the whole part of its working face substantially flat and supports arranged at intervals for supporting a plurality of rolled webs of pulp transversely over the said flat part of the belt, said webs being sufiiciently dry to be unrolledonto said belt; and hoppers arranged between said rolls of pulp, each of said hoppers being adapted to hold an adhesive material and gradually drop the same onto the web that passes under it.

2. In an apparatus for the manufacture of pulp-board in continuous sheets, the combination of an endless belt having the whole part of its working face substantially fiat and supports arranged at intervals for yieldingly holding a. plurality of pressure-rolls over the said flat part of the belt, and other supports for supporting the same number of rolled webs of pulp, said webs being suliiciently dry to be unrolled onto the said belt by the said pressure-rolls, and hoppers arranged between said pressure-rolls, each of said hoppers being adapted to hold an adhesive material and gradually drop the same onto the web that passes under it.

3. In an apparatus for the manufacture of pulp-board in continuous sheets, the combination of an endless belt having the whole part of its working face substantially fiat and supports arranged at intervals for supporting a plurality of rolled webs of pulp transversely over the said flat part of the belt, said webs being sufliciently dry to be unrolled onto said belt; and hoppers arranged between said rolls of pulp, each of said hoppers being adapted to hold an adhesive material and gradually drop the same onto, the web that passes under it; and a continuously-acting press arranged opposite the delivery end of said belt.

4. In an apparatus for the manufacture of pulp-board in continuous sheets, the com bination of an endless belt having the whole part of its working face substantially flat and supports arranged at intervals for yieldingly holding a plurality of pressure-rolls over the said flat part of the belt, and other supports for supporting the same number of rolled webs of pulp, said webs being sufiieiently dry to be unrolled onto the said belt by the said pressure-rolls, and hoppers arranged between said pressure-rolls, each of said hoppers being adapted to hold an adhesive material and gradually drop the'sanie onto the web that passes I under it; and a continuously-acting press arranged opposite the delivery end of said belt.

5. In an apparatus for the manufacture of pulp-board in continuous sheets, the combination of an endless belt having the whole extent of its working face substantially Hat, and supports arranged at intervals over said fiat part for yieldingly holding a plurality of pressure-rolls over said belt, and other supports for supporting the same number of rolled webs of pulp, said Webs being sulficiently dry to be unrolled onto said belt by the said pressure-rolls, and hoppers arranged between said pressure rolls, each of said hoppers being adapted to hold a powdered substance and to gradually drop the same onto the web of pulp that passes under it.

6. In an apparatus for the manufacture of pulpboard in continuous sheets. the combination of an endless belt and supports arranged atintervals forsupportinga plurality of rolled webs of pulp transversely ever said belt, said webs beingsufiiciently dry to be unrolled onto said belt; and hoppers arranged between said rolls of pulp. each of said hoppers being closed at the bottom by a rotary brush; and vibrating sieves under said hoppers.

7. In an apparatus for the manufacture of pulp-board. in continuous sheets, the combination of an endless belt and supports arranged atintervals for supporting a plurality of rolled webs of pulp transversely over said belt, said webs being sufliciently dry to be unrolled onto said belt; and hoppers arranged between said rolls of pulp, each of said hoppers being adapted to hold an adhesive material. and one or more other hoppers arranged next to the first and adapted to hold a loading material, a rotary brush closing each of the hoppers, and a sieve under each hopper or pair of hoppers adapted to catch and distribute the material dropped thereon from the hoppers.

8. The method of manufacturingpulp-board in continuous sheets, consisting in forming rollsof damp pulp-web sufliciently dry to prevent adhesion and to secure suflicient cohesion for unrolling them by traction; superposing such webs in succession by applying pressure to each separate web before the next web is applied to form a gradually-growing thickness of pulp-board; and coating every applied layer except the last with a dry adhesive; finally applying pressure to the completed pile of webs.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HOWARD DIEUDONNE LORIA.

\Vitnesses:

EMMANUEL ORDLUE, LUIS Smor. 

